Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers serendipitously discovered when they automated the beam of an electron microscope to precisely drill holes in the atomically thin lattice of graphene, the drilled holes closed up.
Having lived on three continents spanning the world’s four hemispheres, Philipe Ambrozio Dias understands the difficulties of moving to a new place.
Researchers in the geothermal energy industry are joining forces with fusion experts at ORNL to repurpose gyrotron technology, a tool used in fusion. Gyrotrons produce high-powered microwaves to heat up fusion plasmas.
Five National Quantum Information Science Research Centers are leveraging the behavior of nature at the smallest scales to develop technologies for science’s most complex problems.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory physicist Elizabeth “Libby” Johnson (1921-1996), one of the world’s first nuclear reactor operators, standardized the field of criticality safety with peers from ORNL and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Travis Humble has been named director of the Quantum Science Center headquartered at ORNL. The QSC is a multi-institutional partnership that spans industry, academia and government institutions and is tasked with uncovering the full potential of quantum materials, sensors and algorithms.
Practical fusion energy is not just a dream at ORNL. Experts in fusion and material science are working together to develop solutions that will make a fusion pilot plant — and ultimately carbon-free, abundant fusion electricity — possible.
Friederike (Rike) Bostelmann, who began her career in Germany, chose to come to ORNL to become part of the Lab’s efforts to shape the future of nuclear energy.
To achieve practical energy from fusion, extreme heat from the fusion system “blanket” component must be extracted safely and efficiently. ORNL fusion experts are exploring how tiny 3D-printed obstacles placed inside the narrow pipes of a custom-made cooling system could be a solution for removing heat from the blanket.
An Oak Ridge National Laboratory team developed a novel technique using sensors to monitor seismic and acoustic activity and machine learning to differentiate operational activities at facilities from “noise” in the recorded data.